HGFA Skysailor Magazine

SKY SAILOR 9 September | October 2018 Pilots have no option. We have to say, “That’s not right!”, “You have missed something!”, or “You have to sort that out!” Do they get stroppy? Well, sometimes they do a bit, but in most cases, after they have had their flight and done a good landing, they will come over and say things like: “Sorry about that business pre-launch, mate, I shouldnt’t have missed that, I’m glad you spotted it. It was a good flight. Thanks.” And once out of the dolly and on the way up, things don’t always go perfectly… As an example, one pilot was making reasonable progress, not really a novice any longer, but still struggling a bit to stay in line with the trike at the right height. I don’t take my eyes off the pilots until they are 500ft in the air. I’m watching their position in the airframe. If I see a situation developing, I’ll let them go just long enough to see if they’re recovering. If it doesn’t come good, someone has to call ‘stop-stop-stop’. By then the glider pilot may be out of his depth. If their radio is locked on, the tow pilot will give him the rope and with the reduced airspeed, the glider will start to respond more easily. In this particular case, that’s what happened and tow pilot Simon did let the rope go. When we looked at the video of this launch later, it was clear that the situation had gone too far. Now, we have a policy that the Duty Pilot acts as radio link until the student is demonstrating accurate positioning behind the tug. It was agreed that an experienced Duty Pilot would have called the ‘stop-stop-stop’ Gordon, “Go-Go-Go!” Gordon Bishop's final briefing The Stirlings from Pootenup in spring